World
ECR undecided ahead of von der Leyen's reelection vote
The European Commission president must gain the backing of the European Conservatives and Reformists group to secure her second term.
The debate over Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election as president of the European Commission has heated up across European capitals — and Rome in particular.
As things stand, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — who is also the president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR) — remains undecided over whether to give von der Leyen her backing.
The commission chief held a 50-minute meeting with the ECR parliamentary group on Tuesday morning, at which Meloni’s Brothers of Italy reportedly requested a radical change in the EU’s approach to the Green Deal.
No official statement was issued at the end of the meeting, meaning that for now, the ECR’s stance on von der Leyen’s reelection is not clear.
According to Gaetano Quagliariello, Head of the School of Government at the Luiss University in Rome, von der Leyen needs the support of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party if she is to continue in post.
“I think Italy’s PM is able to influence at least part of the ECR,” Quagliariello said — adding that given Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Spanish party Vox have left the group, Meloni will find it easier to convince those who remain should she decide to give von der Leyen her support.
Meloni seeks top commissioner job for Italy
As far as Meloni is concerned, a key bone of contention in the ongoing negotiations is the appointment of an Italian commissioner to a sufficiently prominent role.
Speaking at the recent NATO summit in Washington, Meloni — who in June abstained from the vote to back von der Leyen’s reelection — stated that she wants Italy’s prominence in the EU to be recognised and that she intends to secure a top spot for Rome in the EU Commission.
Should Meloni and the ECR decline to back von der Leyen, the implications could be serious.
According to Antonio Parenti, the European Commission representative in Italy, given the difficult times that lie ahead, the vote must ensure Europe doesn’t plunge into a political crisis.
“Both Italy and other EU countries have to ensure this vote allows EU institutions to be fully operational,” Parenti said. “Let’s not forget that the historic moment we face is very volatile.”
“We have a war on our doorstep, and even what happened in the US a few days ago makes us understand we are not going through an easy time.”
World
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World
Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’
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Greenland’s leadership is pushing back on President Donald Trump as he and his administration call for the U.S. to take control of the island. Several Trump administration officials have backed the president’s calls for a takeover of Greenland, with many citing national security reasons.
“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night, according to The Associated Press. Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory and a longtime U.S. ally, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s statements about U.S. acquiring the island.
Greenland’s party leaders reiterated that the island’s “future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”
“As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends,” the statement said.
TRUMP SAYS US IS MAKING MOVES TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND ‘WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT’
Greenland has rejected the Trump administration’s push to take over the Danish territory. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump was asked about the push to acquire Greenland on Friday during a roundtable with oil executives. The president, who has maintained that Greenland is vital to U.S. security, said it was important for the country to make the move so it could beat its adversaries to the punch.
“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said Friday. “Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”
Trump hosted nearly two dozen oil executives at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela after the historic capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.
“We don’t want to have Russia there,” Trump said of Venezuela on Friday when asked if the nation appears to be an ally to the U.S. “We don’t want to have China there. And, by the way, we don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland, which, if we don’t take Greenland, you can have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor. That’s not going to happen.”
Trump said the U.S. is in control of Venezuela after the capture and extradition of Maduro.
Nielsen has previously rejected comparisons between Greenland and Venezuela, saying that his island was looking to improve its relations with the U.S., according to Reuters.
A “Make America Go Away” baseball cap, distributed for free by Danish artist Jens Martin Skibsted, is arranged in Sisimiut, Greenland, on March 30, 2025. (Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
FROM CARACAS TO NUUK: MADURO RAID SPARKS FRESH TRUMP PUSH ON GREENLAND
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump’s threats to annex Greenland could mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“I also want to make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. Including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2.
That same day, Nielsen said in a statement posted on Facebook that Greenland was “not an object of superpower rhetoric.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stands next to Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a visit to the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on April 28, 2025. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
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White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller doubled down on Trump’s remarks, telling CNN in an interview on Monday that Greenland “should be part of the United States.”
CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed Miller about whether the Trump administration could rule out military action against the Arctic island.
“The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
What Canada, accustomed to extreme winters, can teach Europe
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